Enture

DUNA, HERE WE COME! And I see you're off to a great start already, Brotoro I had never noticed that little fact about Jool and Duna transfer windows and travel times being roughly the same when you add them together...

Yay, they made it home! The Space Center has indeed come a long way since their departure... Although, I'm not going to lie, that part about how all Aldner's girls had moved on in life almost brought bittersweet tears into my eyes. This is a level of emotional complexity that nobody was in right to expect from what started as a little Laythe side-project, but you managed to get there anyway, well done! Also... DUNA HERE WE COME, WOOHOOOOOO!

I experienced the same problems Maxwell Fern describes. I built a rocket using the new SLS-alike parts, lifted off very slowly and straight up; both liquid and solid fueled engines overheat and explode in a matter of seconds at full throttle, even when used alone, and even at a third throttle the new big SRB cannot complete its burn without exploding due to overheating, nor can the main engine get past 5000m. I first thought this could somehow be FAR-related, but uninstalling the few mods I have and testing them one by one, it is clear now that Deadly Reentry is responsible for the very quick overheating of the new SLS-alike parts.

I started a "Scott-Manley-like" Interstellar Career earlier this week, and today I finally unlocked the first solar panel in the tech tree, so I meticulously put together my first viable comsat, the Scrameustache, making sure it would have enough batteries to function at 100% power all day, everyday, even during orbital nights. After a failed first launch (forgot to deploy the antenna before KSC went below the horizon), the second try went wonderfully, and I brought my satellite into a picture-perfect 1000x1000km orbit!... ...and that's when I remembered that solar panels produce waste heat in KSP Interstellar. Without radiators, my first sat is doomed. Oh well, I'll call Jeb and tell him that the Mun- and Minmus-flyby missions have been preponed... we need the !!SCIENCE!! to unlock the radiators!

Finally got around starting a Career Mode save with the release of 0.23!... I designed a basic rocket, put it in orbit SSTO-style, and then... I had one of those 2001 moments, trying to get Jeb back inside the capsule:

Oh, don't worry about that: I always like to think that Kerbals are plant-like creatures, in that they can use photosynthesis to sustain themselves, and when they die in a puff of smoke, it's actually a puff of spores ready to scatter around and produce new Kerbals!

So, I'm finally getting back to KSP after a whole spring & summer spent doing other things... the Mün got a whole lot more interesting to land on with the procedural craters: It's a cliff!... ABORT THE DESCENT! ABORT THE DESCENT! (note the shadow in the lower right corner)

As it turns out, you can! Just make sure to do it using your time-warp keyboard shortcuts. EDIT: Ninja'd long ago...

I THINK there was one around... about a year ago or so. I definitely remember seeing screenshots of it (I think it was Cykyrios who posted them) on the Forums, when I was a fresh new member of the community. However, a quick search didn't return anything satisfactory. EDIT: Here you go!

I'm very tempted to use the flag of Syldavia, the famous fictive country from the Tintin comics, at least for a couple of Mün missions! After all, it's Syldavia that sent the first (belgian) astronauts in space and to the Moon...

Right after v0.18 was released, I decided to try the brand new ion engine... by sending a probe to Moho. "Not too much of a big deal", you might think... Yeah, but to top it off, I didn't know there were keyboard shortcuts for physics time-warp, and I hadn't attached enough solar panels on my probe. The result was a 3-and-a-half-hour-long, uneventful, very, very, very dull flight, until I finally entered a stable Moho orbit. I've learned how to use physics time-warp properly since then, so now I enjoy the ion engines again, but the memory of that flight is still vivid.

A random 2001: A Space Odyssey moment I had during an EVA on my way to Eve, back in 0.17. I always loved it!

«...and then the Capt'n came back onboard, and there was much rejoicing.» Yay, welcome back!

Oooh, I see, thanks So the last rocket I built -designed for crewed surface missions to Duna and Ike- was asparagus-style all along, although I didn't know it!

Okay, everybody stops right here: what is asparagus-style design? And as opposed to what kind of design? And how is it more efficient? Never heard of it...

(sorry for the late answer, I was away for a few days) Well, I considered it, but since I was aiming at reliability rather than efficiency, and built in comfortable error margins for this 1st crewed mission to Duna, I didn't keep them in the final design... They make appear on future versions of the lander, though

Soviet nuclear warheads didn't weight more, but the distance they had to cover from USSR to US territory was a very great one, counted in thousands of kilometres. The Americans had Air Force bases all around soviet territory, and their bombs mainly would've been carried and delivered by plane. But the fact remains, yeah: both the R7 Semiorka and the Atlas rockets are modified ICBMs.

Dear fellow Kerbalnauts... I'm happy to announce that today, Jeb, Bill and Bob became my Program's first Kerbals to set foot on another planet! My little brother rejoiced much. And they have enough fuel left to reach Low Duna Orbit, waiting for a Return Vehicle, which is always an appreciated bonus... •Upper Stage separation: •To Duna! •Some time later... enjoying an Ikerise during the start of the EDL: •Chutes deployed! The spacecraft is still transsonic, and the surface approaches alarmingly fast... •Nearly there: descending at 4 m/s...

Kosmo-not, this is super-nicely done, kudos! You should definitely make more of those if you have the time for it; I still remember your great "My style of Mun Target Landing" video!

(Note: the central two tanks are actually rocket fuel, via a cfg edit. They have the same exact stats as the FL-T400, but they look nicer) Hey, that looks very similar to my Aspic-2X aircraft! It was my first stable and controlable plane in 0.17 (first ever, actually), but I never achieved orbit with it, "only" suborbital flights culminating at 85km altitude... I guess I'll replace the central fuselage with FL-400 tanks, then. Still, could you tell me how far/fast/high you go with the jet engines before switching to rocket engine? Also, AncientAstronaut, how does a SSTO-rocket of yours look like?...

Banned for having no signature.

Vacuum chamber. Haha, how do you like me now?...

Actually, it's the Bigtrak's little brother, the Liltrak (2 seats instead of 3), but you can get it from the same link! It doubles as command pod, so I brought it to the Mün atop the Hab module, and decoupled after landing. The Liltrak is surprisingly resistant to shocks, and can be rolled back in upright position when it tips over (which tends to happen often when you drive >30m/s on the Munar surface).

You could also take a look at the Diamant rocket, the first non-US and non-USSR orbit-capable rocket, entirely designed and built by the CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales), the French Space Agency. It put France's first satellite in orbit, in 1965. It was between 19 and 23m in height, and was launched from Algeria & French Guiana. EDIT: in modern times, one of the smallest orbit-capable rockets actually exploited must be SpaceX's Falcon-1.

Welcome to the forums, and congrats on finding your first Mun Arch! Rumours say they are at least two of them, but I've yet to find the second one. I just installed a nice little Research Station next to the one you found, though: